Prefabricated wires and wire harnesses are made for many electrical appliances, and are used both in the original assembly of the appliances and in the replacement of worn out wires or wire harnesses in used appliances. For example, in appliances such as washers, dryers, stoves and the like, the wires which form the electrical connections between the various components, such as the electric consuming devices and the appliance controls, are often manufactured by independent wire manufacturers and are supplied to the appliance manufacturer in pre-cut lengths as required. Normally, the wires are fitted by the wire supplier with a terminal or connector to permit immediate attachment of the wire to a post or other terminal on the appliance. Rapid connect fittings are often used, wherein the terminal on the wire is either a male or female part which interlocks with a female or male part, respectively, on a post in the appliance. Hence, when the wire is being installed between the components of the electrical appliance, the wire can be snapped into place quickly and requires no time consuming operations of wire stripping, terminal connecting or the like.
Safety considerations arise from the snap-on fitting type prefabricated wires in that the male and female terminals or connectors normally are entirely of metal. Hence, exposed electrical conducting parts are present in the appliance when the wires are in place thereon, unless some type of electrical insulation is provided. The exposed metal connections are a potential cause of electrical shock, in that many of the other components of an appliance are metal, including the housing and other surfaces subject to frequent human contact.
For these and other reasons one of the terminals is normally provided with an electrically insulative plastic jacket, commonly referred to as a pod, which permits another terminal to be inserted therein. The pod encases the assembled metal terminals and prevents electric shock. Normally one of the terminals and the pod are constructed so that the pod will slide over the terminal and lock in place thereon. Thus, the wires are cut to length and stripped, a terminal is connected thereto, generally by some type of crimp-on connection, and the pod is slid in place and locked onto the terminal.
Measuring the appropriate length of wire, cutting the wire, stripping the ends thereof and attaching the terminal or terminals thereto normally are operations which can be performed mechanically. Thus, in a given length of time, one worker operating a wire cutter and terminal attacher can produce a large volume of pre-cut wires with terminals attached. Prior to this time, however, the assembly of the pod on the terminal has been performed manually. A worker physically applies a pod to each terminal, which normally requires that the worker grasp the wire and a pod, place the pod over the end of the terminal, slide the pod onto the terminal and slightly twist or bend the pod and terminal to lock the pod in place on the terminal. The manual installation of each pod to each terminal is slow and inefficient, and one worker frequently cannot attach pods as quickly as machines produce the pre-cut wires with terminals thereon. Hence, even though the cost for making a pod does not add significantly to the cost of each wire produced with a pod thereon, the physical labor required in attaching the pod to the terminal substantially increases the cost for the production of wires. Unfortunately, prior to this time manual assembly was the only known method for installing insulator pods on terminals of wires.